1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to personal communications and, more particularly, to a system and method for screening and routing calls--such as voice messages, faxes, e-mails, and the like--directed to a communications services subscriber.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Today, mobile communications are essential to persons conducting business away from the office. The person accessible to clients and potential clients typically obtains a decisive advantage over the person not accessible. Thus, wireless communications, such as cellular telephones, pagers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) and which permit communications to be directed to the person regardless of location are invaluable to those persons who often conduct business away from the office. It is, however, desirable to limit the calls that are directed to the person who is conducting business away from the office. The person typically does not want to be interrupted while conducting business to field calls that are not important, that can be handled at a later time, or that can be directed elsewhere.
FIG. 1 is a greatly simplified illustration of a wireless communications network, called a Personal Communications System (PCS) network 100. The PCS is similar to other types of wireless networks and is described to provide background to the following discussion of the invention; it is not intended by any means to limit the invention to use with PCS systems. Indeed, a person skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the invention may be used in many types of communications systems. The PCS 100 includes a signaling network 102, which supports a switched communications network. A switched communications network may be, for example, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or an Integrated Signaling Digital Network (ISDN). The signaling network 102 is connected to a wireless communications system 104.
An illustrative signaling network 102 includes (among other things) a network database 105, which may be a service control point (SCP). A database called a Home Location Register (HLR) 106 is part of the signaling network. The HLR 106 is connected via link 108 to a Regional Signaling Transfer Point (RSTP) 110. A network server 107, such as an intelligent peripheral (IP), may be connected to the signaling network via an RSTP 110 or other service switching point. The RSTP 110 is connected via a number of links 112 to several Local Signaling Transfer Points (LSTPs) 114. Each LSTP 114 is connected via a number of local links 116 to a number of switches such as Service Switching Points (SSP) 118. The SSP 118 connects to subscriber premises to provide for premises equipment, such as a wireline telephone 120. An SSP 118 may also connect to one or more Wireless Switching Centers (WSC), Mobile Switching Centers (MSC), or Radio Port Control Units (RPCU) 122, which are part of the wireless communications system 104. The WSC (or MSC or RPCU) 122 is connected to a number of Base Stations (BS) (or Radio Ports (RP)) 124, which monitor a "cell" (or "coverage area") 126. One or more WSC 122 are connected to a second database called the Visiting Location Register (VLR) 128.
The HLR 106 contains a database maintained by a subscriber's (or "user's") local telecommunications service provider at the user's home location. This database includes information about the user, called the user profile. The VLR 128 is maintained by a telecommunications service provider at the location the portable device user and portable device 130 are visiting. The portable device 130 may be a wireless telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) having wireless communication applications, or other device. The VLR 128 stores a subset of the HLR 106 user information, and it records that the portable device 130 is currently located in the area serviced by that VLR. The HLR 106 keeps a record of the VLR in which the portable device is currently located. When the portable device 130 travels to an area covered by a different WSC 122, the device is registered in the new WSC 122. The new location is stored in the VLR 128. If the portable device 130 travels to an area covered by another VLR 128, the subset of the HLR 106 data stored in the previous VLR is transferred to the new VLR. The location of the new VLR is stored in the HLR and the previous VLR location is deleted from the HLR 106.
One type of portable device which may be used in a PCS network is a personal digital assistant (PDA). The PDA is typically a laptop or palmtop computer connected to a wireless communications network and which may provide voice, fax, e-mail, and/or other types of communication. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a typical PDA 200. The PDA 200 may have one or more processors 202, such as a microprocessor, a main memory 204, a disk memory 206, and an I/O 208 such as a mouse, keyboard, or pen-type input, and a screen or monitor. The PDA 200 may also have a wireless transceiver 210 connected to an antenna 212 configured to transmit and receive wireless communications. The processor 202, memories 204, 206, I/O 208, and transceiver are connected to a bus 214. The bus transfers data, i.e., instructions and information, between each of the devices connected to it. The I/O 208 may permit faxes, e-mail, or optical images to be displayed on a monitor or printed out by a printer. The I/O 208 may be connected to a microphone 216 and a speaker 208 so that voice or sound information may be sent and received.
An object of the present invention is a system that serves as a "personal assistant" to subscribers to manage communications and personal information.
A further object of the present invention is a system that allows subscribers to control both incoming and outgoing communications in all media as well as being able to access vast amounts of network based data and that notifies subscribers of high priority calls when appropriate, without disturbing subscribers at awkward times.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system and method for identifying callers to a communications services subscriber, determine a priority ranking for the caller, and route the call to a location where the subscriber may be reached, the PDA, or other destination (such as voice mail or receptionist) according to the determined priority.